I will revisit this observation/reflection again tomorrow as my scheduled day got shifted due to a school function and a test. I did not get a chance to time when she starts class. As students enter the classroom they are instructed to pick up books from the counter. The book, Obsessive Genius by Barbara Goldsmith, is about the life of Madame Curie. Students take turns reading paragraphs of the book aloud. The entire class gets together and discusses words that people didn't know and what happened. During the reading, my CT takes care of some administrative tasks including attendance, giving out work to people who missed class, returning work previously graded, and touching base with students who had issues earlier. The students typically get through a couple pages of the book before she begins class in earnest.
Since I have only been to class one day, I will also have to revisit how homework is collected and graded, however, in he AP section my teacher had students write HW answers on the board and discussed issues people had with the homework. She did a condensed version of this with her other classes, and used the homework as a segue into the days topic. I did not pay attention to the exact techniques she used to engage students at the beginning, but there is also nothing that stood out.
I am fairly torn on this entry procedure. One of the things that I noticed first was that she does not great students at the door. I like the idea of taking time to welcome students to my class and to great everyone by name. The reading seems like a great activity to do, I think it is very cool for the students to get a chance to read about the life and times of an important female scientist. I am not sure I love it as an entry activity though. I want to say that there are more engaging ways to start. The downside is that I am not sure how to work the literature into the class in another way that keeps it from being super intrusive.
Since I have only been to class one day, I will also have to revisit how homework is collected and graded, however, in he AP section my teacher had students write HW answers on the board and discussed issues people had with the homework. She did a condensed version of this with her other classes, and used the homework as a segue into the days topic. I did not pay attention to the exact techniques she used to engage students at the beginning, but there is also nothing that stood out.
I am fairly torn on this entry procedure. One of the things that I noticed first was that she does not great students at the door. I like the idea of taking time to welcome students to my class and to great everyone by name. The reading seems like a great activity to do, I think it is very cool for the students to get a chance to read about the life and times of an important female scientist. I am not sure I love it as an entry activity though. I want to say that there are more engaging ways to start. The downside is that I am not sure how to work the literature into the class in another way that keeps it from being super intrusive.